Lansing — Fay Beydoun and Sharif Hussein, two Michigan business leaders who sought $25 million from the state in 2021, flowed more than $130,000 in campaign contributions to key politicians over a 10-month period as they pushed for support for the project.
Most of the money came through two $50,000 contributions — totaling $100,000 — to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reelection campaign, according to an analysis by The Detroit News.
The donations occurred as Beydoun of Farmington Hills and Hussein of Okemos were working to convince Whitmer’s administration and individuals who answered to the governor to back their plan for a new business incubator program that was supposedly aimed at bringing international investments to Michigan.
The timing of the contributions and a court document filed Wednesday provided rare insights into how donors can privately lobby Michigan officials they’re financially supporting for projects in the budget.
“This whole episode shows you the inordinate influence of money on the legislative appropriation process,” said Bob LaBrant, a longtime Michigan lawyer and campaign finance expert. “It’s scandalous.”
On Wednesday, Beydoun, whose organization Global Link International won $20 million through the state budget in 2022, was charged with 16 felonies by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office. The allegations largely centered on Beydoun using the grant money her group received for personal or otherwise improper expenses. Beydoun declined to comment when approached Wednesday morning by a Detroit News reporter outside of the Farmington Hills home.
A 41-page affidavit that was filed in court by the Attorney General’s Office detailed efforts by Beydoun and her ally and associate, Hussein, who expected to be on the board of the incubator organization, to get Whitmer’s team and lawmakers to sign off on the appropriation.
Hussein, who’s known by many lawmakers as a Republican-leaning donor, said he had regular contact with top legislators regarding the business incubator, told them the project would be a net positive for the state and used his personal reputation to vouch for the incubator, according to the affidavit from the Attorney General’s Office.
Hussein is not facing charges.
At a 2023 meeting, after the funding was allocated, Beydoun allegedly told Hussein that he wouldn’t be involved in Global Link because it would “not look right,” according to the affidavit.
Michael Manley, an attorney for Hussein, said his client has cooperated fully in the Attorney General’s investigation and that his “involvement in the political process is his constitutional right.”
“He has legally donated to individuals of both parties who share his values and political beliefs,” Manley said. “Irrespective of the timing of certain donations, there was absolutely no connection between the donations and the grant.”
Manley added that Hussein was “appalled by decisions that were made that were inconsistent with the intent of the grant” and expressed those concerns.
Following the money
Private message obtained by the Attorney General’s Office showed Hussein and Beydoun communicating about the incubator project in February 2021.
“Is the governor on board with the program?” Hussein asked Beydoun in a Feb. 24, 2021, message.
Beydon said the Democratic governor was.
Hussein told investigators that he suggested to Beydoun that they ask for an appropriation of five years of funding for the incubator, for a total of $25 million, and that Beydoun accepted the amount as “the ask,” according to the affidavit.
Over the next 10 months, Beydoun continued to meet with members of Whitmer’s administration about the project. The court records showed her plans for a meeting with Whitmer herself on Dec. 9, 2021. It’s unclear whether the meeting took place.
Beydoun’s “outline” for the meeting with Whitmer referenced a $25 million funding request and items Beydoun had “delivered,” according to the affidavit. Among the delivered items listed by Beydoun was “$330k first term” and working with Michigan Economic Development Corp. CEO Quentin Messer Jr. on “establishing relationships with Republicans.”
It’s not clear from the document what the $330,000 referenced. Nessel said her office believes the $330,000 was related to political fundraising.
Meanwhile, Hussein made a $50,000 contribution to Whitmer’s reelection campaign on March 18, 2021, and another $50,000 contribution on Oct. 22, 2021, according to disclosures. The $20 million grant was approved in July 2022, while Whitmer was reelected to a second four-year term in November 2022.
Such large contributions from an individual donor to an officeholder’s campaign would normally be illegal in Michigan. The limit at the time was $7,150.
However, in 2021, Whitmer’s team said she could take contributions over the cap from an array of individuals because of attempts to recall her and longstanding rulings from the Secretary of State’s office that say candidates facing active recalls can raise unlimited amounts of money to match the ability of the recall committees.
Whitmer’s campaign later sent $3.5 million in funds it raised above normal contribution limits to the Michigan Democratic Party, after it became clear the recall bids wouldn’t proceed.
Whitmer spokeswoman Stacey LaRouche didn’t respond to a request for comment about the contributions from Hussein or Beydoun.
Beydoun herself gave Whitmer’s campaign contributions of $1,000 or less in July, August and September 2021, totaling $2,250.
Trevor Pawl, who was then-Whitmer’s chief mobility officer, met with Beydoun in the summer of 2021 so she could pitch the Global Link concept, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Pawl told an investigator that Beydoun’s pitch was “one of the worst concepts that I had ever, ever seen.”
“She had no business model,” Pawl said, according to the Attorney General’s Office. “She had no plan to access in market context to get to the leads that she ultimately wanted.”
Still, Beydoun’s project ended up receiving $20 million as part of a $1 billion spending spree by state officials in the budget approved in July 2022.
LaRouche said Wednesday that the “misuse of taxpayer dollars has no place in Lansing.” The grant was sponsored by then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, she noted.
Asked about the contributions, Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the public should be concerned about the flow of campaign money from people seeking grants from state officials.
Beydoun, Hussein engaged lawmakers
While Beydoun was known as a Democratic-leaning figure, Hussein is viewed as someone who usually supports GOP candidates. And Hussein communicated directly with Wentworth about the Global Link project, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
As one example, Hussein texted Wentworth in January 2022, stating the project “has been cleared by the governor” and that there would “be no negotiations on the line item and it will be understood that the agreement is in place to move forward.”
Campaign finance disclosures show Hussein, a frequent donor to Republican lawmakers over the years, gave $10,000 to Wentworth’s political action committee on Aug. 31, 2021.
That same day, according to court records, a private reception was held at Hussein’s home in Okemos. Beydoun sent a message to Quentin Messer Jr., CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., about the event.
“The text messages between Beydoun and Messer in the summer of 2021 establish that Beydoun connected Messer with many Michigan leaders through private meetings and parties, including one held by Sharif Hussein at his home with Republican leadership,” the Attorney General’s affidavit said.
Wentworth didn’t respond to a text message from The Detroit News seeking a comment.
Throughout the fall of 2021, Beydoun was in contact with Messer about the Global Link appropriation, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Messer’s agency would eventually become the state agency in charge of monitoring Beydoun’s spending.
A PAC tied to Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, received $5,000 from Hussein on Oct. 13, 2021, and a PAC tied to Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, received $5,000 from Hussein on Oct. 5, 2021, according to disclosures.
Hall, who is now the House speaker, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Nesbitt, who is the state Senate minority leader and a candidate for governor, said he had no knowledge of the grant involving Beydoun until after the budget became law in the summer of 2022.
Hussein gave $2,000 to a committee of then-state Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, on Aug. 30, 2021. Hertel was a top Democratic legislator in the 2022 budget negotiations.
Hertel was among the lawmakers that Hussein said he had “regular contact” with about the business incubator.
Hertel, who’s now the chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, didn’t provide a comment Thursday about the contribution from Hussein.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Campaign cash flowed as Fay Beydoun sought grant from state leaders
Reporting by Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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